United Athletic Conference

Seattle U's Declan McGlynn and California Baptist's Antonio Gomez been named Western Athletic Conference Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for August 23 through August 29.

 

McGlynn, a junior forward from Kirkland, Wash., made the most of his return to the Redhawks, scoring in each of Seattle U's season-opening wins over Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis. On Thursday, he scored the Redhawks' first goal of the season, curling in a free kick from 20 yards out in the 58th minute for the match's only goal. In Saturday's match, he gave SU the 2-0 lead in the 29th minute, scoring his second goal of the season in an eventual 3-1 win.

 

Gomez, a sophomore defender from Las Vegas, played a full 90 for the Lancers in their 2-0 season-opening win at Dixie State. In addition to anchoring the back line, he had the assist on the game-winning goal in the ninth minute to help CBU open the 2021 campaign with a victory.

 

Other offensive nominees: California Baptist's Brian Gonzalez netted the game-winner just nine minutes into Sunday's 2-0 non-conference win at Dixie State … Chicago State's Cal-Wayne Allen scored the game-winning goal in the 88th minute as the Cougars knocked off Big Ten-foe Northwestern, 2-1, to open the season … Grand Canyon's Marco Afonso scored both goals for the Lopes in Sunday's 2-0 win over CSU Bakersfield … Houston Baptist's CJ Smith scored the golden goal in Thursday's 1-0 overtime over St. Thomas (Minn.) … UNLV's Nicolas Likulia scored in each of the Rebels' wins, putting in the first goal both at Gonzaga and home against UC San Diego … San José State's Omar Lemus led the Spartans to a season-opening win, putting in the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute of a 2-1 victory at former WAC-rival CSU Bakersfield … UT Rio Grande Valley's Reshaun Walkes recorded the WAC's first hat trick of the season in Thursday night's 4-3 loss at Central Arkansas … Utah Valley's Diego Castillo scored the Wolverines' lone goal in a 1-1 draw at Canisius and then assisted on the first goal in Sunday's 2-1 win at Niagara.

 

Other defensive nominees: Chicago State's Rashawn Kellman helped the Cougars go 1-1 on the opening weekend, including a 2-1 win over local foe Northwestern … Grand Canyon's Miguel Prado played all 180 minutes on the Lopes' back line, helping GCU open the season with a 3-1 win over UIC and a 2-1 win against CSU Bakersfield … UNLV's Billy Jones solidified the Rebel back line in both wins and assisted on the game-winner on Sunday against UC San Diego on Sunday … San José State's David Sweeney made one save on nine shots to secure the win in Thursday's 2-1 win at CSU Bakersfield … Seattle U's Akili Kasim collected his first clean sheet of the year on Thursday with two saves against Cal State Fullerton and then made nine saves in a 3-1 win over UC Davis on Saturday … Utah Valley's Cameron Weston helped anchor the back line as the Wolverines went 1-0-1 in upstate New York.

 

After a strong opening weekend, there are several tough matches from sea to shining sea. Houston Baptist will be the first to take on a nationally-ranked opponent this week, traveling to ninth-ranked SMU on Thursday. Grand Canyon will head to the Pacific Northwest to take on a pair of ranked foes, playing at fifth-ranked Washington on Friday and 22nd-ranked Oregon State on Monday. Finally, Seattle U heads from the Pacific to the Atlantic, facing off against 24th-ranked Duke on Monday evening.

 

As a team, Utah Valley is the early leader in shots (33) while Grand Canyon holds the lead in points (17), goals (5), goals per game (2.50), assists (7), assists per game (3.50) and saves (12). California Baptist is the leader in goals allowed (0) and goals against average (0.00) and is tied with Seattle U, Dixie State and Houston Baptist for the lead in shutouts (1).

 

Individually, HBU's Bryant Farkarlun and SU's Declan McGlynn are tied for the lead in shots (8) while SJSU's Finlay Wood is the leader in shots per game. Following his hat trick on opening night, UTRGV's Reshaun Walkes is the leader in points (6), points per game (3.00), goals (3) and goals per game (1.50). GCU's Justin Rasmussen has the lead in assists (3) and assists per game (1.50) while SU's McGlynn is the leader in game-winning goals (2). Three players are tied for the lead in goals against average (0.00) while SU's Akili Kasim holds the lead in saves (11) and GCU's Rafael Guerrero is the leader in saves per game (8.00).

 

Opening the season with a pair of wins, Grand Canyon moved up a pair of spots in the College Soccer News Top 30, coming in at 22nd. In the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, Seattle U is the first among teams receiving votes and is joined by GCU on that list.

 

Grand Canyon is the preseason favorite to win the 2021 Western Athletic Conference men's soccer title in a vote of the league's 12 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team.

 

The Lopes received six of 12 first-place votes to finish with 110 points for the preseason nod. Seattle U was just two points back, picking up four first-place votes to tally 108 points. San José State grabbed the final two first place votes to finish third with 94 points. Air Force was fourth with 89 points, followed closely by UT Rio Grande Valley in fifth with 86 points. California Baptist was sixth with 76 points, UNLV was seventh with 68 points and Utah Valley was eighth with 55 points. UIW was ninth, followed by Dixie State and Houston Baptist in a tie for 10th and Chicago State rounding out the poll in 12th. 

 

Grand Canyon's Justin Rasmussen and Esai Easley were selected as the WAC Preseason Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year respectively in a vote of the league's 12 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players.

 

Rasmussen and Easley were joined on the Preseason All-WAC squad by teammate Maximilian Moeller. San José State also had three honored with Willy Miranda, Max Allen and Carlos Gomez Zavala earning recognition. Seattle U was represented by Noe Meza and Akili Kasim. Also earning recognition were Air Force's London Aghedo, California Baptist's Thomas Beecham and UT Rio Grande Valley's Reshaun Walkes.

 

The WAC will have some strong competition in the non-conference portion of the schedule with seven matches scheduled against participants from last spring's NCAA Tournament. Grand Canyon and Seattle U have two each with both the Lopes and Redhawks scheduled to play both Washington and Oregon State. Air Force is also scheduled to take on Oregon State while Utah Valley will host Washington. Finally, San José State will take on nearby-rival Stanford.

 

Utah Valley has announced former US National Team member Kyle Beckerman as its next head coach. Beckerman retired after a monumentally successful 21-year professional and international career in December. He spent 14 of those seasons in Utah with Real Salt Lake, where he was a captain and led the team to a 2009 MLS Cup. He also had 58 caps as a member of the U.S. National Team, including starting appearances in the 2014 World Cup. In 2020, he was named one of Major League Soccer's 25 Greatest Players of all-time.

 

Former MLS SuperDraft Pick and All-American defender at UCLA Leonard Griffin will take over as head coach at Grand Canyon, replacing the retiring Schellas Hyndman. Griffin heads to Phoenix after two seasons as the head coach at San Francisco. He also served as an assistant at Saint Mary's, California and UCLA and he began his coaching career as an assistant at Cal State San Bernadino. 

 

Current Seattle Sounders FC and former Seattle U defender Alex Roldan was voted by fans as an MLS All-Star and joined his brother Cristian on Aug. 25 as the best of the MLS take on the best of Liga MX at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. The MLS bested Liga MX in penalty kicks, 3-2, after a 1-1 draw with Alex playing the entire first half at right back.

 

SIX-PACK

The 2021 WAC Men's Soccer Tournament will feature the top six teams on November 10, 12, 14 at GCU Stadium in Phoenix. The top two teams in the regular-season standings will receive byes straight to the semifinals.